Gay Group Tour of Australia

TRIP HIGHLIGHTS

Australia’s cultural and culinary capital – Melbourne – with its heavily cosmopolitan vibe, iconic trams, edgy street art, great restaurants, and a European-accented feel . . . along with its status as the world’s most livable city seven years in a row.

The glowing red mountains of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park – with some of the Australian Outback’s most exotic plant life as well as spectacular and timeless scenery, including Wilpena Pound, a colossal crater rim rising from the plains.

The best-known and perhaps most charming wine region of Australia – the Barossa Valley – with several dozen growers producing internationally-acclaimed wines, including some from families descended from German immigrants arriving in the 1840s.

Gracious, relaxed Adelaide — which can boast a position among the world’s top five most livable cities – ringed with a green belt of parks and blessed with a thriving arts scene, multicultural cuisine, and four famous wine regions on its doorstep, including the Adelaide Hills with gorgeous scenery, historic towns settled by 19th-century European immigrants, stone cottages, vast orchards, and cool-climate vineyards.

A variety of excellent accommodations, from urban luxe to country chic, with delicious meals along the way, of course!

PROGRAM SUMMARY

We kick off our tour in Melbourne — the capital of Victoria state and Australia’s second-largest city after Sydney but with a noticeably different feel to it. Truly a multicultural melting pot, nearly a half of the state’s residents were born overseas or have a parent who was. This, of course, gets reflected in the city’s very diverse and excellent dining scene. Evidence of stately 19th-century European-style architecture remain; the city’s trams are an iconic sight; a café culture rages; elegant tree-lined boulevards crisscross the city; and atmospheric laneways are adorned with street art. It’s hard to find a Melbournian who doesn’t like living here.

The rest of our tour unfolds in the state of South Australia, usually missing from tourist itineraries yet has so much to recommend. We make our way up into a piece of the Australian Outback, specifically the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, with its awesome scenery with abrupt escarpments, gorges, and the famous elevated basin of Wilpena Pound — and with luck some good late-spring wildflower action. Basing ourselves at a historic family-run sheep station with upscale accommodations we explore by 4WD vehicle and walks, and you can also take a scenic flight over the area.

Journeying overland we reach one of the most notable wine regions in Australia if not the world — the lovely Barossa Valley. Cultural roots imbue the Barossa with a different charm from other wine-making zones as the area was settled by Silesian immigrants in the 19th century, their influence seen in some of the architecture and cuisine. Certainly we take advantage of the valley’s food and wine riches, including an overnight stay at the nicest accommodation in the Barossa and its very highly-regarded restaurant.

Wilderness and wildlife abound on Kangaroo Island. It’s a rurally paced kind of place and still relatively undeveloped with friendly folks who savor their nature haven, excellent local produce, an abundance of flora and fauna, and 270 miles of wild coastline. Barely 10 miles off the mainland the island feels a world away and of another age, and we have two full days to explore its best sights.

South Australia’s capital of Adelaide is a lovely manageable city with heritage buildings, multiethnic population, a thriving arts scene, great dining, and parks surrounding it on all sides. We cap off our tour of Australia in this sophisticated city and include an excursion out to the nearby Adelaide Hills where historic towns, wineries, nature, and gardens co-mingle in an appealing, almost Bavarian-looking countryside.